


I never knew how much I needed you.

by Dame_Dulces



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Bisexual Himiko, Comfort, Drug Use, F/F, Gay Chabashira Tenko, Insomnia, Lesbian Character, Marijuana, Night Terrors, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Recreational Drug Use, Swearing, Tickling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-05 23:26:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16377047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dame_Dulces/pseuds/Dame_Dulces
Summary: AU: A deeper exploration into the relationship between Tenko and Himiko, and what their lives might have been like after Danganronpa. *tickle fic





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my very first multi-chapter fic; I've put a lot of heart and soul into this, and it means a lot to me. Thank you for taking the time to read.
> 
> Tumblr: @damecosquillas

Himiko gaped blankly at the neon green numbers glowing on her alarm clock. 4:07 am. She blinked twice, then rubbed her red eyes. They burned like hell. They were already dry when she had crawled into bed seven hours ago; staring at the bright light in her pitch-black bedroom for god knows how long hadn’t helped.

She fumbled around in the darkness for her phone. She’d heard a ‘thump’ behind her bed frame about two hours ago. Figured it must have been that. She dug around, swearing under her breath after accidentally breaking off part of her longest nail. Damn it! It would take forever to grow back. Where the hell was her damn phone.

Finally, she reached it.

There was one unread message.

From Tenko, of course.

She swiped up.

 

_u up? lol_

Himiko picked at her broken nail. She pressed four buttons, then hit send.

_Yeah._

Mere seconds later, her phone buzzed.

_figures. u never sleep. wanna come over? i have green 8-)_

Jesus. Tenko was such a burnout. Himiko paused, contemplating her next words, then typed them out slowly before pressing send.

_Be there in fifteen._

_yay!!! can’t wait :-*_

\---

  
As soon as Himiko knocked on the front door of Apartment 212, the door swung open and she was attacked by four lanky limbs that twisted around her body. She found herself backed up against the wall, by none other than Tenko. The taller girl nuzzled her face into Himiko’s neck, peppering kisses all over whatever exposed skin she had access to. Against her will, Himiko giggled like a schoolgirl. 

“God, you’re so fucking cute. Even when you’re sleep deprived.” Tenko said in between kisses.

“Geeheeheee…. G-get off me! You’re so fucking weird!”

“C’mon, Miko! Don’t be grumpyyyyyy.”

“Seheheriously, stop! Someone’s gonna see!”

Tenko released her hands and legs, pouting. “It’s 4:30 in the morning, no one’s even awake. But whatever.”

Himiko rubbed the spot on her neck that she had put her chapped lips on. It was slightly damp. Disgusted, she wiped the residue saliva on her jacket.

“Can’t you just say hi like a normal person…” she mumbled, walking solemnly inside.

“Nope! I’m completely abnormal!” Tenko gave her a cheesy smile and a pat on the butt, immune to Himiko’s eye rolls.

 

~~

 

Stepping into Tenko’s apartment was like entering a new world. A filthy, unorganized world, littered with half empty beer bottles, brown carpet stains, smelly bongs with filthy water, Styrofoam containers, ash trays, and chip crumbs. It’s as if Tenko didn’t know vacuums existed, or any kind of cleaning product for that matter. Himiko almost busted her shit while taking off her boots, nearly tripping on the mound of discarded shoes near the front door.

“Ugh! This place is such a dump.”

“Sorry, m’lady. I’ll clean it up for you right away!”

“No wonder you always smell like used tampons.”

“Jeez, that’s so mean… you’re crankier than usual. Never got a text back from Ouma, I presume?”

“Alright, I’m already annoyed. I’m going home.”

“What?! W-wait!!”

Himiko didn’t take two steps before she was grabbed from behind and pulled backwards onto the couch. She let out a small yelp, a few grumbled protests, then suddenly burst into laughter as Tenko’s hands wiggled their way all over her waist and sides.

“AAAAAAHAHAHA SHIIIIT! TEHEHEHENKO! STOP!!”

“Gootchie gootchie goo! Say you’ll never leave me!”

“AAAHEEHEEHEE NOOOOOO! STOOOHOHOP!”

“Say it or else I’ll tickle you to death!”

“FFFINE! I’LL STAY JUST STOP PLEEHEEHEESE!”

Tenko released her breathless captive, who took a few moments to get herself back together. Himiko glared cruelly at her attacker.

“I told you to stop tickling me! I hate it!”

“But you sound so cute when you’re laughing, I can’t help it! Plus, it’s the only way to get you to do things…”

Himiko was about to snap, but one look at Tenko’s face and all her rebuttals melted away. Her friend’s face was red as a rose, with tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She was looking at some undistinguishable spot on the ground, avoiding eye contact. She seemed as if she was about to fall to pieces.

Himiko sighed defeatedly. It always came down to this.

“Nyeeeh… sorry, I’m just… overtired I guess. I haven’t slept well these past few nights.”

Tenko raised her eyes meekly. “How long’s it been?”

“Maybe two days… coming up on three. Wait, I slept for like an hour yesterday afternoon.”

Tenko’s aura changed almost completely, from that of a playful child to one of a concerned mother. She brushed Himiko’s bangs across her forehead and placed two hands on her cheeks, scanning her face diligently. She noticed the plum-purplish bags under her eyes, the array of broken blood vessels where the whites of her eyes should’ve been, the hollow irises that reeked of sorrow and loneliness.

“Awww, Miko... I’ve never seen you this bad before…”

“Gee, thanks.”

“What’s keeping you up?”

“Insomnia.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Nyeh… I don’t feel like talking about it right now…”

“Does it have anything to do with… you know… the thing?”

“No.”

“You should really talk to someone about that. I’m serious. Like, a therapist or something.”

“I don’t need a therapist, Tenko.”

“You can’t keep bottling it up like this… at least, you know you can talk to me about it, right?”

“Just forget it! Stop nagging me. God.”

Tenko pulled away as her face expressed utter desolation. She always had that look when she was rejected. Whatever, at least that meant she’d drop it. Himiko wasn’t in the right state of mind to go there now. She knew she’d break down just mentioning the terrors that appeared to her when she closed her eyes…

“Wait. I know what’ll help.”

Tenko suddenly sprang up, stepping her long legs over the couch and almost kicking Himiko’s face in the process. Her left foot knocked over something made of glass, which fell on the tile floor and made a loud crashing sound. A string of curses came out of her feminine mouth. Himiko thought the whole scene was quite ridiculous.

She soon returned with a pink Hello Kitty bong and a grinder.

“This’ll put you right to sleep.”

“Nyeeeeh…”

One hit, and it was all over.

It didn’t have the intended effect, but it wasn’t long before all inhibitions were lowered, and proverbial walls crashed down. The two young women spent the next couple hours wasting away the early hours of the morning. They listened to 70s psychedelic hits that their parents probably smoked weed to. They watched shitty reality TV show episodes and laughed uproariously at the predictable dialogue. They laid in each other’s laps, playing with each other’s hair until Tenko accidentally pulled some of Himiko’s and got yelled at. They gossiped like they were in high school again, mostly about the other survivors and whether or not they were dating each other, until Tenko realized Himiko wasn’t responding anymore and looked down to see her sound asleep on her lap.

Heart fluttering like a butterfly, she carefully leaned over and turned off the light.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Darkness surrounded her._ **

**_Thick claws grasped her neck and mouth, rendering her mute and immobile._ **

**_She couldn’t speak._ **

**_She couldn’t breathe._ **

**_Ominous chanting echoed in her ears._ **

**_She could make out human-like voices. None of which she recognized._ **

**_Frozen in place, she stood deathly still as ghost-like hands forced their way down her throat._ **

**_She choked, slowly losing the ability to breathe._ **

**_A blood curdling scream echoed throughout the inky black. The, the pitiful sound of begging and sobbing. Ear screeching cries of pain akin to demons threatened to tear apart her ear drums. Scrambling footsteps, panicked voices, and then_ **

 

 

**_nothing._ **

 

~

 

Himiko’s eyes shot open. Her lungs gasped for air. She sat up, both hands grasped around her neck. She was drenched in sweat.

Her eyes strained as she searched the room for solid form. Where was Tenko? Was she alive? Where was everyone else? The questions invaded her mind and refused to leave until they were answered. Various colors and shapes filled her vision, but she had trouble making sense of anything.

_Breathe, Himiko. Just breathe._

She inhaled as deeply as she could, then exhaled. She did it one more time for good measure. Her attention turned towards her arching arms. She had small greenish purplish bruises faintly resembling the shape of fingers. Nothing abnormal, probably from flailing in her sleep and grasping for hands that weren’t there.

She looked to her left. There was a hot pink bong with a cartoon cat on the floor. Fragments of a green herb that had spilled the night before were still stuck in the confines of the carpet.

She sniffed and made a face. The smell of week old food fermenting in the trash shrouded the place in a rotten aroma.

Oh yeah. She was at Tenko’s.

Tenko was all right.

She’d had another nightmare. The usual. She’d never been so relieved to be awake.

She continued to observe her surroundings, just as Dr. Idabashi had instructed. Bright light leaked from the living room windows. Outside were blue skies with fluffy white clouds. She had a dusty knit blanket draped over her that looked like something from her grandma’s house.

That’s right. She was still in Tenko’s apartment, but Tenko wasn’t there. Thank God. She didn’t feel like explaining anything.

After looking around some more, she saw a note on the coffee table. A message was scribbled in large, round letters:

 

_Went out to run an errand, be back soon! Breakfast sandwiches in the freezer, help yourself._

_Love, Tenko :-*_

Gross. The kissy face made it even more obnoxious. Why was she like this?

She got up and searched for her purse. Found it. Next was her phone. It was lying on the floor at a 27% charge. Fucking perfect. She had no notifications but checked her messages anyway. The latest texts were from Tenko last night and her mom the day before.

Her message to Ouma was still unread.

Sigh.

She got up to gather her things. She stumbled around the massive shoe pile and somehow managed to find her boots. She slipped them on and made her way out.

 

~

 

_wtf?? why’d you leave >:-(_

_Sorry. Got stuff to do._

_u coulda waited five minutes for me to get back. u left my door unlocked!!_

_Whatever. No one would steal anything from your pigsty anyway._

_u hurt me, miko. y do u hate me so much ;_;_

_I’ll see you later._

~

 

One whole week passed before they saw each other again. And Tenko wasn’t happy about it.

She’d practically broken down Himiko’s door on Friday afternoon, commanding her time and attention. Himiko couldn’t refuse thanks to Tenko almost tickling her to death. Again.

Nothing in particular had happened during that week. Himiko had gone to work at the metaphysical shop as usual. She did several readings for sad strangers who were desperate to know about their love prospects. Angie had worked a shift with her, so she’d had the privilege of listening to her ramble on about Atua for hours. She tried to get some sleep whenever she could.

Nothing special. Yet Tenko demanded to know every last detail as if those small niceties were the only thing sustaining her.

God, she was annoying. Especially how she just barged into her apartment like she owned the place. Digging through her freezer looking for pizza rolls and swearing when she couldn’t find any. Settling for a bag of cheetohs, crunching on them loudly with her mouth open while getting orange crumbs everywhere. Propping up her big feet on the living room table, as if people didn’t eat there. It only took about five minutes for her to turn Himiko’s tidy space into a trash heap. The redhead wondered why she put up with so much of her shit.

“Nyeh…”

Tenko smiled as she licked her powdery fingers. “Thanks for the snacks.”

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”

“Nope. The only place I belong is with you.”

“Gross.”

Tenko wiped the remaining powder on her jean shorts.

“Hey, did Ouma ever get back to you?”

“No.”

“Awww. Too bad.”

Himiko bit her lip, suddenly finding herself on the verge of tears. Fuck. Why was she getting emotional now? Was she really that disappointed? 

“… Miko?”

Tenko took notice of her friend’s body language. She was shifting around uncomfortably and picking at one of her broken nails. She realized she had to do something now, before she retreated back into her protective shell.

Gently, with more tact and thoughtfulness than usual, she took the redhead in her arms and surprisingly met no resistance. The two of them slowly sunk into the futon, laying side by side. Tenko ran her fingers through Himiko’s oily hair.

“I’m sorry. I know you really liked him.”

Himiko whimpered almost inaudibly.

“He could’ve just said he didn’t like me.”

Tenko tenderly kissed her shoulder. “Goddamn degenerate male. I’ll make sure to kick that lying sunnavabitch in the face next time I see him.”

Himiko blinked, a few runaway tears leaking down her cheeks. She took a deep breath and let it out.

“Tenko?”

“Mmmmhm?”

“Why are you always so nice to me?”

“Duh, because I’m madly in love with you. Can’t you tell?”

Himiko's lower lip trembled. Her voice cracked as she spoke her next words. “… Why...? Why do you say things like that? I’m just a bitch. An ugly, cranky, lazy bitch that can never do anything right. What is there to love about me?"

A somber look passed through Tenko’s eyes. She put both hands on her friend's cheeks and stared directly into her eyes. Himiko felt her soul stirring deep within.

“Look at me, Himiko! You may be cranky, and a little lazy, but you are NOT a bitch, and you’re NOT ugly. I never want to hear you say that about yourself again!”

Himiko was on the verge of tears again. Hot saltwater burned at the backs of her eyes, threatening to break loose. She had never been one to cry easily, but the combination of her lack of sleep and the intrusive thoughts that plagued her mind on the daily were starting to wear her down. Especially since she had to carry the burden of pain all alone.

Tenko continued as Himiko stayed silent.

“Listen… I love you because you have the richest heart of all. Maybe you can’t see it… but I can.”

She pulled her in closer, allowing Himiko to bury her face in her chest.

“And another thing. It’s perfectly natural to express your emotions. If you feel like crying… go ahead and cry your eyes out. You’ll feel better… I promise.”

Almost as if on cue, Himiko finally broke down. Hearing those words for the second time confirmed what she had always known but refused to believe. Large, fat tears poured out of her eyes and soaked through Tenko’s white tank top. She cried, and cried, and cried, until she couldn’t breathe through her nose and all that would come out were tiny hiccups. All the while Tenko stroked her back with the tender touch of a lover.

“Better?”

Himiko sniffed and nodded her head.

“Good.”

Tenko pet her head as if she was a small animal, which seemed to calm her down. After her sobs faded away and her breathing steadied out, she began to trace a curved line all the way down Himiko’s body, from neck to spine to lower back. She drew odd shapes all over the girl’s pale skin and lovingly watched as she twitched and flinched. Her body quivered, and a few titters escaped from her sweet lips, yet Himiko didn’t protest. The sweet caresses actually seemed to relax her.

“Nyeeh… hehehe…”

Tenko smiled warmly. "There's that cute giggle I like so much."

The two girls cuddled there for a while, savoring the moment of peace that seldom graced the two of them. An immeasurable amount of time passed before Tenko spoke up.

“Hey… whaddya say we go out and do something? Get some fresh air and participate in society and whatnot.”

“… Out?”

“Yeah! We could go rollerblading, or hiking, or canoeing, or whatever!!”

“Nyeeeeeh… sounds like too much work…”

“Fine, then you choose.”

“Mmmm. I want ice cream.”

“Alright then. Let’s go!”


End file.
